The story seemed unbelievable when it reached the ears of Marlboro Middle School officials: a pair of girls, ages 11 and 12, had put naked pictures of themselves on the Internet.

But administrators asked the police department to check into the rumors swirling around the school and investigators discovered that the two girls had posted their own pornographic pictures, sending them to a few participants in a so-called Internet chat room.

``It appears to be a one-time thing,'' said Marlboro police Chief Mark Leonard. ``They did something stupid and it looks like the picture got to a handful of people.''

Leonard said police and school officials are cautioning parents and students about the dangers of the Internet.

``As wonderful as the Internet can be, it's fraught with danger for unsuspecting kids,'' the chief said. ``They may not realize what or who is out there and how dangerous it can be.''

Distribution of child pornography on the Internet is a crime, Leonard said. His office sent a report on the case to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office to determine if prosecution was warranted.

Marlboro juvenile detectives investigating the report found that the girls had taken naked pictures of themselves, scanned them onto a computer and then sent them to some chat room participants.

Investigators believe the girls undertook the picture posting on their own.

``It wasn't as if they were being solicited by someone on the Internet to send their photographs or participating in a child pornography ring,'' said Leonard. ``It appears to be a couple of kids who did something stupid.''

School officials brought their suspicions to police after word of the pictures circulated to several students.

``It's got nothing to do with the school at all,'' said Leonard, noting that the students did not use school computer equipment.

Leonard said police and school officials plan to warn parents to be more vigilant about their children's use of the Internet.

The chief said officers still aren't sure why the girls decided to pull the stunt.

``I don't know what they were thinking,'' said Leonard. ``I don't know if they did it for the shock value. They weren't thinking, really. They didn't realize the seriousness of it or the potential dangers of it.''

quote:Originally posted by illu§§ion Distribution of child pornography on the Internet is a crime, Leonard said. His office sent a report on the case to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office to determine if prosecution was warranted.

thats digusting. i was in a random AIM chat today and someone sent a link that i clicked on. it was a top ten list of "preeteen porn" . I PMed them and told them to take it off...it turned out to be one of the girls on the list...I gagged.

Yeah, only 45 minutes away. I used to work in Marlboro, and what surprises me is that there is more to do in Marlboro than here in Spencer. Damnit, for this I think they should move the Solomon Pond mall closer to us in compensation for this act of blasphemy, don't you agree Gen?

Your whole "I dress like an office drone and act respectable and then sit on forum where we discuss urethra fucking and public torture" bit still creeps me out. I bet it would creep out your co-workers even more.

quote:Originally posted by Paint CHiPs I guess it's my own fault that I was devastatingly disappointed after I saw the thread title and the thread creator and came in here to discover Gen had NOT finally acquiesced to my demands.

The hunt goes on.

Gen is legal now, dude. Let it go.

Although I zeroed in on this thread with *hopes*.

Comment on the article. Seems to me the authorities are doing a decent job of not over-blowing the situation. Children will be children. No one is screaming for trigger-locks for web-cams, yet.

ok they took them. and then scanned them was this a polaroid cam? cause if not they would of had to develop them. isn't against the law not to report something like that if you are developing the pics?